Besides recognizing hand signals and maintaining an adequate distance from a bicycle, Google's self-driving cars can also see and avoid bikes at night, as well as steer around unpredictable cyclists who are riding against the flow of traffic.

Google's campus, where some of its self-driving car tests are performed, has long been a hub of cycling activity. The company has more than 1,000 bikes painted in its green, blue, red, and yellow colors available for employees to use. The report indicates that more than 100 Google employees rode around in a circle to train the self-driving cars' bike-recognition capabilities.

"Our cars recognize cyclists as unique users of the road, and are taught to drive conservatively around them (it helps to have a number of avid cyclists on our engineering team!)," the report said.

Related

Google often uses its monthly self-driving car reports to tout its vehicles' ability to be courteous to other road users. Its May report, for instance, explained how the cars are programmed to blow their horn in the most cordial way.

Still, Google self-driving cars have had several fender benders. Two of them were involved in collisions in Austin, Texas, in June, according to the report. One was sideswiped by another vehicle and the other was rear-ended while it was stopped at a red light, though both were low-speed collisions that did not cause any injuries, the company said.

About the Author

As a hardware analyst, Tom tests and reviews laptops, peripherals, and much more at PC Labs in New York City. He previously covered the consumer tech beat as a news reporter for PCMag in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, where he rode in several self-driving cars and witnessed the rise and fall of many startups. Before that, he worked for PCMag's s... See Full Bio

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